Defense
Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday that Israel will not tolerate firing
against its citizens. Speaking at a joint press conference with US
Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Tel Aviv, Barak said that the IDF
knows what it needs to do and will work to make sure that there is not an escalation.

"Hamas is the only one that is responsible for these attacks," the defense minister said.

At the same time that
Barak was speaking, a rocket fired from Gaza landed in Sderot. No
injuries were reported and no damage was caused.

In Gaza, Senior Islamic Jihad leader
Khaled al-Tash said that his terrorist group is ready to make moves
that would calm the situation in the Strip but that things could evolve
if "Zionist aggression" continues, Israel Radio reported Thursday.

Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said "We
must break the equilibrium under which Hamas fires and we retaliate. We
can not accept a situation in which citizens become hostages."

When
asked during an interview with Channel 2 if Israel will consider a full
scale ground invasion to Gaza, Ahronovitch replied, "I do not want to
specify what the military options are but we must stop the war of
attrition."

"We must realize that this can end in tragedy. What if,
god forbid, recent attacks had ended in dozens of casualties,"
asked Aharonovitch. "We would have been forced to take much more severe
or comprehensive action," he added.

In light of the
ongoing rocket threat, classes will not be held Friday in Ashdod, the
mayor announced on Thursday. Ashdod Mayor Yehiel Lasri decided to close
schools through Sunday, saying he could not take responsibility for
“endangering the security of any child in the city.”

Classes will also not be held in Kiryat Gat schools, it was reported Thursday.

Rockets landed in and north of Ashdod
on Thursday afternoon and sirens were heard in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gedera
and Gan Yavne. Another rocket landed in the Eshkol Regional Council,
the eighth rocket attack since Thursday morning.

IDF tanks shot
into Gaza on Thursday, injuring one man, according to Palestinian
sources, following five rockets launched from Gaza into Israel.The strike came after the IAF struck four targets in Gaza Strip in the early morning, and after Palestinians fired about a dozen rockets and mortars
across the border, striking deep into Israel.

The tanks shells were aimed at a Hamas facility in Gaza City, which reportedly burst into flames. Earlier Thursday, the IAF bombed terrorists that were attempting to shoot rockets into Israel.

Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Thursday that Israel "will not tolerate any escalation."

Speaking in the US, Ya'alon said that Israel will not tolerate "terrorist attacks or shooting rockets at our citizens."

He
said that the war against terror "requires a long battle, but it will
not stop us from taking care of whomever shoots at Israel as they have
in the last few days or [of whomever] sends terrorists to the center of cities."

"Whoever
does this will not be immune to a decisive attack," Ya'alon said.
"Hamas is responsible for everything that is shot out of Gaza and if it
does not take responsibility, it will pay the price."

Since
Thursday morning, three Kassam rockets, one Grad missile and a mortar
shell were shot into Israel from Gaza. Grad missiles landed in and north
of Ashdod. A previous report erroneously said that a rocket landed in
the Rishon Lezion area.

Hamas said Israel targeted
smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border as well as one of its
training camps in central Gaza.

A third strike hit a power
transformer, causing blackouts in the area, witnesses said. Medical
workers said no one was injured in the strikes.

The IDF confirmed
that IAF strikes were carried out in Gaza in response to earlier
rocket attacks and that direct hits on multiple targets were recorded.

Yaakov Lappin contributed to
this report.

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